Shoe cleat



Nov 13, 1962 c. J. HOLLANDER 3,063,171

SHOE CLEAT Filed May 16, 1961 INVENTOR! C. Jay Holla der United States Patent 3,063,171 SHOE CLEAT C. Jay Hollander, 166 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland 10, Calif.

Filed May 16, 1961, Ser. No. 110,488 Claims. (Cl. 36-59) The invention relates to shoe cleats of the type used in various sporting activities wherein cleats of various con formations are affixed to the sole of the boot or shoe to afford improved traction, gripping and control for the wearer, and has special reference to the type of cleats or spikes used with baseball shoes.

It has heretofore been the practice to equip baseball shoes with cleats punched from sheet material and formed with substantially righ-angle upstanding prongs, whereby in use with the usual ground conditions to be encountered, clogging and loading of the cleats with compacted soil is experienced. This results in added weight, loss of control, and virtual ineffectiveness of the prongs or gripping portions so as to deny the user necessary traction in both running and batting stance.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved form of shoe ground-gripping cleat which will resist clogging and will be self-shedding in operation.

. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ground-gripping cleat for baseball shoes and the like which will be substantially self-polishing by interaction with ground surfaces.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cleat of such configuration as to afford improved stability and traction from any direction of thrust which the user may impose.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a ground-gripping shoe cleat of such shape, conformation and material as to resist wear, deflection and bending, while permitting convenient replacement and easy means of aflixing to the shoe.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which of the foregoing will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing description may be adapted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

. Referring to said drawing (one sheet):

FIGURE 1 is a bottom view of a right baseball shoe with cleats constructed in accordance with the present invention affixed thereto.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the left baseball shoe.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of one of the shoe cleats.

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view on a further enlarged scale and is taken substantially on the plane of line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the cleat and is taken substantially on the plane of line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

The shoe cleat of the present invention is in slightly varying forms adapted to be used on the sole and heel of the right shoe as depicted in FIGURE 1, and on the sole and heel of the left shoe as depicted in FIGURE 2. The forms are essentially similar and a detailed description of one will apply to all. With reference then to the cleat 11 here shown mounted on the sole of the right shoe, it will be seen that the cleat consists briefly of a plurality of arms 12, 13 and 14 terminating in a 3,063,171 Patented Nov. 13,, 1962 plurality of Spikes 16, 17 and 18 and having one face 19, see FIGURES 4 and 5, for engaging the bottom 21 of the shoe 22, each of the arms 12--14 being formed to generally triangular cross-section with a pair of lateral faces 23 and 24 (for arm 12), 26 and 27 (for arm 13) and 28 and 29 (for arm 14) connected to and extending convergently away from the shoe-engaging face 19, so as to meet in a relatively sharpened ridge 31 (for arm 12), 32 (for arm 13), and 33 (for arm 14) for penetrating into the ground.

As here shown the three arms of the cleat are connected to and extend from a common central portion 34 and are arranged with the arms substantially equiangularly spaced so as,to define Wide, open, obtuse angles therebetween so as to release and shed earth which may be packed therein.

As best seen in FIGURES 3, 4, and 5, each spike 1618 is formed as an enlarged relatively broader plate-like element extending transverse to the corresponding ridge 3133, and having opposed faces 36 and 37 transverse to the length of the arm and defining a sharpened ridge 38 transverse to and forming a peak in relation to the corresponding arm ridge. It Will be noted that the arrangement of the plate-like peaked spikes transversely to the equiangularly spaced arms provides a combination of flattened surfaces well adapted to resist lateral thrust from all directions when once embedded in the ground, and that when the spike is additionally deeply embedded, the ridged bodies of the arms 12-14 themselves bite into the ground to provide a substantial increase in side-thrust resistance. The formation of all of the cleat portions, remote from the shoe, into sharpened ridges provides a ready and elficient action of the cleat in so biting into the ground, without sacrificing any of the advantages provided by the lateral faces in resisting side-thrust.

As an important feature of the invention, all of the adjacent interior surfaces of the cleat member 11 are curved to smoothly merge with one another so as to additionally resist clogging; and for the same purpose, all of the surfaces adjacent the shoe-engaging face 19 are inclined acutely thereto, so that when the cleat is mounted on the bottom 21 of the shoe, these surfaces will define obtuse angles therewith. For example the interior surfaces 23 and 27 are curved adjacent the central point 34 to smoothly merge with one another, and are inclined acutely to the face 19 and likewise so are the faces 26 and 29 and the faces 24 and 28. Also the interior lateral faces 23 and 24 are flared-divergently to flow smoothly into the interior transverse face 36 of the corresponding spike 16, with the ridge 31'being flared to define a fillet 41 flowing smoothly into the transverse ridge 38 of the spike; and the arms 13 and 14 are similarly formed. Likewise the exterior transverse end face 37 of each spike opposite the respective arm is flared to provide a foot portion 42 meeting the shoe-engaging face 19 acutely.

It will be seen that each spike and the flared portions of the corresponding arm define a thickened zone 43 for the mounting of fasteners thereto. As shown in FIGURE 4, each thickened zone 43 has a threaded bore 44 formed therein and opening on the shoe-engaging face 19; and the cleat is secured to the shoe bottom 21 as by means of threaded fasteners 46 extending through the shoe bottom and engaging the bores 44.

Typical shoe cleats 11 and 51 and 52 and 53 embodying the present invention are shown affixed to the soles of right and left shoes respectively as shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2. The cleats 11 and 51 may be designated as sole cleats, in distinction to cleats 52 and 53 which may be designated heel cleats. As will be noted, cleats 11 and 51 comprise right and left sole cleats respectively,

3 while cleats 52 and 53 comprise right and left heel cleats respectively.

It will be observed that each of the cleats 11, 51, 52 and 53 as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, embody the characteristics of a trifoil shape with substantially equidistant angularity of the arms, see arms 56, 57 and 58, which radiate from a common center 59 of cleat 51, arms 61, 63 and 64 which extend from a common center 65 of heel cleat 52, and arms 62, 66 and 6 7 which extend away from a common center 70 of heel cleat 53. It has been found advantageous, however, to vary the length of the arms, especially in the sole cleats 11 and 51, to utilize the available area of the shoe sole to greatest advantage for maximum traction and resistance to thrust. Accordingly, the arms 12, 13 and 14 of right sole cleat 11 are of unequal length and are preferably disposed as generally illustrated in FIGURE 1. Correspondingly, the left sole cleat 51 which is the obverse in shape of right sole cleat 11, is preferably oriented as generally depicted in FIGURE 2.

The longitudinal axes of the forward pointing arms 12 and 57 are generally parallel with the centerline of the shoes, and so are the axes of the rearwardly pointing arms 61 and 62 of the right heel cleat 52 and the left heel cleat 53 respectively. The right heel cleat 52 comprising arms 61, 63-, and 64, and the left heel cleat 53 comprising arms 62, 66 and 67, each have the forwardly projecting arm of greatest length, 64 and 66 respectively, disposed in balanced, opposed relationship. The disposition of the sole cleats 11 and 51 and heel cleats 52 and 53 as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, with forwardly projecting arms 12 and 57 and rearwardly projecting arms 61 and 62 in substantially centerline position on the shoes, and with diverging arms 14 and 13 and 56 and 58 of the sole cleats, and 63 and 64 and 66 and 67 of the heel cleats in substantially equidistant angular relationship to the center line, results in the maximum stability and resistance to a sudden thrust or change of weight from any direction.

I claim:

1. A shoe cleat comprising, a plurality of arms terminating in a plurality of spikes and having one face for engaging the bottom of a shoe, each arm being formed generally triangular in cross-section in a plane normal to said face having a pair of lateral faces connected to and extending convergently away from said shoe-engaging face to meet in a relatively sharpened ridge for penetrating into the ground.

2. A shoe cleat comprising, a plurality of connected arms presenting a common face for engaging the bottom of a shoe and each terminating in a relatively broader transversely extending plate-like spike, each arm being formed generally triangular in cross-section in a plane normal to said face and presenting a pair of lateral faces connected to and extending convergently away from said shoe-engaging face to meet in a relatively sharpened ridge, said lateral faces and said ridges being flared to flow smoothly into said transversely extending spikes.

3. A shoe cleat comprising, a plurality of connected arms presenting a common face for engaging the bottom of a shoe, each arm being formed generally triangular in cross-section in a plane normal to said face with a pair of lateral faces connected to and extending convergently from said shoe-engaging face and meeting in a relatively sharpened first ridge, each arm being formed with an enlarged plate-like spike portion having opposed faces transverse to the length of said arm and defining a second sharpened ridge transverse to said first ridge and forming, ap'eak in relation thereto, the lateral faces of said arm being flared divergently to flow smoothly into the transverse faces of said spike portion, the said first ridge being flared to define a fillet flowing smoothly into said second ridge, said spike and flared portions defining thickened zones for the mounting of fasteners thereto. v

4. A shoe cleat as characterized in claim 3, wherein said thickened zones have threaded bores formed therein and opening on said shoe-engaging face.

5. A shoe cleat comprising, a member having three arms extending from a common center and presenting a common substantially coplanar face for engaging the bottom of a shoe, each arm being formed generally triangular in cross-section in a plane normal to said face having a pair of lateral faces converging from said shoeengaging face and meeting in a first sharpened ridge, each arm terminating in an enlarged spike portion having opposed faces transverse to the length of said arm and defining a second sharpened ridge transverse to said first ridge and forming a peak in relation thereto, all of the adjacent interior surfaces of said member being curved to smoothly merge with one another, and all of the surfaces adjacent said shoe-engaging face being inclined acutely thereto, the transverse face of each spike portion opposite the respective arm being flared to provide a foot portion meeting said shoe-engaging face acutely.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,212 Caldwell Feb. 17, 1914 1,230,118 Clifford June 19, 1917 2,118,113 S'chemel May 24, 1938 2,268,992 Nofziger Jan. 6, 1942 2,986,825 Moore June 6, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,399 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1884 

